Students demand apology from Catholic high school which bans same-sex prom dates
Students at an all-girls Catholic high school are calling on administrators to lift a ban on same-sex prom dates.
The Mercy High School in Middletown, Connecticut, currently bans students from bringing a same-sex date to prom.
A Change.org petition has been started by students at the school who say the “archaic and highly discriminatory rule” is “beyond shameful” and “aggressively discriminatory”.
The petition has been signed by over 1,100 people.
Titled ‘Publicly Apologise & Let Girls Take Girls to Prom’, the petition was launched on 27 February by a student who said they want to remain anonymous.
A previous petition gained nearly 2,000 signatures in two days, but was closed due to the “administration strongly advising me to give it up.”
The Hartford Courant on Tuesday published a statement from the school president Sister Mary McCarthy.
It reads: “As LBGT issues continue to be the subject of discussion and debate within the Catholic church and society at large, so too are they matters of consideration for Mercy High School… the expectation has been that a Mercy student’s date be male.
“These limitations are premised both in preserving the spirit of the prom as a safe and enjoyable experience for the students of Mercy, as well as recognising and adhering to the teachings of the Church.”
Gabriel Bodenheimer, a teacher in San Francisco, came out as trans, but has been offered support by the order of the Sisters of Mercy.
Back in 2014, a Catholic school banned two 11-year-old girls from doing a class project on gay rights.
